Going Green
Second Presbyterian has made a commitment to take action to decrease the use of energy in our building, to use renewable resources as much as possible, and to educate our congregation in ways each of us can make a difference. We have a Green committee that is looking at all aspects of energy use and making changes that will make a difference. We are using Fair Trade Coffee and offer it for sale as a fundraiser for our Honduras Mission.
Join in and take action. We are called to be responsible stewards of God's creation.
Read the following text of a recent article in the Carlisle Sentinel that includes information from our associate pastor, Jennifer McKenna.
Local churches going green
By Erica Dolson, Sentinel Reporter, May 21, 2010
Carlisle Sentinel
In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, God created the earth, and He saw that it was good. And the advent of the environmental movement has reaffirmed the creed originally stated in the Bible: the Earth is good.
In addition to colleges and environmental groups, many local churches are now also setting an example of environmental stewardship for their congregations and the community.
“People expect it from Dickinson College or other environmental groups, but not from a church,” said Jon Hand, pastor of Engage Community Church in Carlisle. “I think churches could be, should be leaders.”
Over the last five years, churches across the country have conducted LEED-certified practices and energy audits, opened community gardens and installed non-pavement parking lots in greater numbers, said Matthew Sleeth, director of Blessed Earth, a Kentucky-based organization whose mission is to share the Bible’s teachings of stewardship with churches and colleges. The organization seeks not only to connect the Christian theology of creation to people’s lives, but also to move discussion of environmental issues outside of a political realm, Sleeth said. “Many people who go to church have never had a sermon on this, and they want to know what the Bible says about it,” Sleeth said. “I think that that’s a good thing - that we see it as a moral thing.”
The Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle recently dedicated a children’s garden with the intent to give children a greater understanding of food and where it comes from, Associate Pastor Jennifer McKenna said. The garden is one of the church’s latest efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. In the past, the church has upgraded its lights, audited its electricity use and been a proponent of community agriculture, encouraging its congregation members to buy locally, McKenna said. Second Presbyterian also hosts meetings of the Clean Air Board, she added. “It will take a long time to re-educate people here, but we have options here,” she said. “I believe it’s God’s creation, and we’re just stewards of it...We need to pass on to the next generation the beauty.”
A few families in the congregation of the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley share concerns about energy use; some drive solar cars and others are looking into solar heating, co-minister Duane Fickeisen said. “We have a long tradition of being concerned with environmental issues,” he said. “We take our responsibility to the rest of the world very seriously.” Housed in a building with parts that are over 100 years old, the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley’s facilities were not created with modern energy standards and updates in mind, Fickeisen said. Still, the church has made efforts to install new windows in the sanctuary that will allow more heat gain in the winter, install electric heat pumps and upgrade its lighting, Fickeisen said.
In recent years, Saint Joseph Church in Mechanicsburg has increased its recycling program in all its campus buildings - the church, school, parish office and rectory, and now partners with Community Aid to recycle clothes, Parish Manager John Durle said. The church recently replaced its roof with aluminum, a greener option that has two to three times the lifespan of shingles, and has updated the light dimmer in the church to save energy, especially during smaller services, Durle said. In the future, the parish is interested in testing the waters of solar energy, light harvesting and occupancy sensors, he added. “I think it’s been talked about in our church. I hear it in our homilies sometimes,” Durle said. “To be a good steward of the gifts God has given us is a very good thing.”
Engage Community Church has launched several initiatives - both large and small - to encourage environmental stewardship. For the last two years, the church has sponsored the Carlisle Greenfest held at LeTort Park. At each service, the congregation is encouraged to bring their own coffee cups, and re-usable, plastic mugs are provided to visitors, Hand said. With “Engage Community Church” branded on the cup, it not only makes people think about the church, but about saving paper, Hand said. “It makes people think twice, ‘here’s one little thing I can do,’” Hand said.
For Hand, the concern about the environment is a revival of one of Christian theology’s oldest teachings - that at the end of time, the earth will be restored and renewed, he said. “We do believe there is a time when life as we know it now will transform into something better,” Hand said. “If God’s not going to dispose of this earth, neither should we.”